Flying Lesson.

I woke up this morning and got myself a beer. Then I checked with Bodmin International Airport to see if the weather was clear and drove. I went to the Tower,

paid my money and headed to the apron.

My first choice was unavailable,

so I had to put up with this fragile little fellah.

Two intimate seats,

a large luggage space behind (just right for that weekend in the Channel Islands), 4 cylinders, 8 sparkplugs and a Magneto. No brake or accelerator pedals. No GPS, no computer, no autopilot. Just my co-pilot (officially, "Instructor", but hey, I can fly this baby). I let him start it up, and motor down the field for take-off. And then we were up there. For a paid-for hour, lasting 75 minutes, we did a rectangle of Cornwall: first down to Fowey

turning east to Looe, and then across the county north to Boscastle via Bodmin Moor. Stunningly close to Brown Willy (ahem)

with a buzzard above us. Keeping the same altitude, but getting much higher once we reached the coast. Headed west along the coast to Padstow (where we stopped for chips at Rick Stein's)

and turned south towards Bodmin. All navigation was done by sight, spotting landmarks eg the Cornish Alps, Tors on Bodmin, the shape of estuaries and the coast, with advice from the airfield when other planes were in the vicinity (Newquay, Culdrose and Plymouth airports are relatively close). It is "unrestricted" airspace, so flying depends on advice from the ground as to how to avoid other low-flying traffic. The cloud cover was fairly low, so no higher than 2500ft, which generally avoids other traffic anyway. Another rectangle around the airfield and I was allowed to land it, which was hairy, as it wouldn't go in a straight line. Any staring out the window resulted in vast changes in direction and attitude. Rudder is bad as it results in "yaw", but rolling to turn is amazing.
The scariest bit was when my assistant was parking, approaching a sheer drop (I hit the Invisible Brake Pedal) before swinging around.
Magbloodynificent.